Search For Missing Cruise Ship Passenger Suspended

Search for a passenger who went missing from a Holland America cruise ship has been suspended by the U.S. Coast Guard.

A 65-year-old male passenger from the United States went missing and possibly overboard the ms Statendam ship sometime before or in the early hours of Monday morning. The passenger was not noticed missing until the ms Statendam arrived back at its homeport of Seattle, Washington on Monday July 13th. The passenger was confirmed aboard the ship by vessel staff when it departed Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, at 11 p.m., Sunday.The cruise line notified the Coast Guard at around 11 AM on Monday morning and a search then began.

The Coast Guard searched over 230 miles and for more than six hours. Local authorities and ship staff also searched the entire vessel but the missing passenger was sadly not found. As a result the search came to end northwest of Protection Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca at 6:10 PM local time on Monday evening.

“We would like to extend our deepest sympathies to those affected, however, despite our best efforts we have been unable to locate the missing passenger,” said Eric Cookson, a command duty officer at Sector Puget Sound.

The ms Statendam is a 55,450 gross ton cruise ship and can carry 1,226 passengers at double occupancy. The Holland America Line operated cruise ship was sailing 14 Day Round trip from Seattle.